3 THE REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT TASKFORCE ON WORKPLACE HEALTH AND SAFETY He Korowai Whakaruruhau

4 INDEPENDENT TASKFORCE ON WORKPLACE HEALTH & SAFETY 2013 Cover image acknowledgement: The Taskforce gratefully acknowledges weaver Robin Hill for the use of her korowai or protective cloak on the front cover. This korowai is made of pheasant feathers, both male and female birds, which speaks to me of the inclusion of all people. The taniko (woven border) is designed with a family in mind. The marriage of two people and their respective families join to make one pattern. Although people belong together in society we are all individuals so there are individual bundles of feathers throughout the korowai body. Robin Hill Further copies The Independent Taskforce on Workplace Health and Safety report is divided into three parts: 1. Workplace Health and Safety Executive Report 2. Workplace Health and Safety Report 3. Workplace Health and Safety Working Papers Each of the above reports and papers can be found at: April 2013 ISBN (Print) ISBN (Online) Disclaimer The Independent Taskforce on Workplace Health and Safety was appointed by the Minister of Labour with the purpose of reviewing New Zealand s workplace health and safety systems and making recommendations based on its findings. This publication represents the collective view and recommendations of the Taskforce members; it is not Government policy. While every effort has been made to ensure that the information in this publication is correct, the Taskforce does not accept any responsibility for, or liability for, error of fact, omission, interpretation or opinion that may be present, nor for the consequences of any decisions based on this information or any reliance placed on it. ii

6 INDEPENDENT TASKFORCE ON WORKPLACE HEALTH & SAFETY 2013 A message from the Taskforce For the past 10 months Taskforce members have engaged in a rigorous process of consultation, discussion and analysis. This report contains an integrated package of measures that represent the first steps necessary to bring about the substantial changes that we believe are necessary for healthy and safe workplaces in New Zealand. These are our collective views and we all fully endorse the findings and recommendations. We have been privileged to be involved in such important and worthwhile work. It is our sincerest wish that our report contributes to fewer deaths and injuries in New Zealand workplaces. Rob Jager Paula Rose QSO Paul Mackay Dr Bill Rosenberg Mavis Mullins MNZM MIKE Cosman

7 PART 1 INTRODUCTION 3

8 INDEPENDENT TASKFORCE ON WORKPLACE HEALTH & SAFETY 2013 Chair s foreword The New York Times recently reported that flying on a commercial jetliner is now so safe that a traveller could fly every day for 123,000 years before being involved in a fatal crash ( Airline industry at its safest since the dawn of the jet age, 11 February 2013). The NYT went on to discuss the reasons for this astonishing feat: better regulation, less tolerance of accidents, a more open and tolerant culture for reporting near misses and better built-in safety aids for pilots. It also talked about the galvanising effect of what the aviation industry calls maintaining a state of chronic unease mindfulness, wariness as a means of preventing and mitigating serious incidents. In effect, the people who make up the aviation industry are tremendous worriers. They train, design, maintain, regulate, document, record and do lots of other things with the conviction that one day, no matter how hard they try, it could all still go disastrously wrong. We need to cultivate and grow a state of chronic unease in the New Zealand workplace. No-one goes to work expecting to suffer injury or die, yet the grim truth is that far too many Kiwis experience harm be it acute, chronic or catastrophic. While there is some confusion about the actual numbers of fatalities and serious workplace injuries in New Zealand each year, what we do know is that there are around 200,000 claims to ACC each year from people being harmed at work. No-one goes to work expecting to suffer injury or die, yet the grim truth is that far too many Kiwis experience harm. Apart from the devastating emotional toll on families and communities, the economic, medical and social costs of work-related harms to our country are enormous, arguably two to four percent of GDP. This is more than sobering. Frankly, it is appalling, unacceptable and unsustainable. How can this be? That s the question we ve sought to answer in the past 10 months as the Taskforce has travelled the country, talking to workers, families of workers, employers, unions, industry groups, professional associations and health and safety experts, and in considering the 400-plus written submissions we received. The degree of interest and involvement from so many people has been invaluable and humbling. Our sincere thanks go to all those who took the time and made the effort to engage with us and provide feedback, suggestions and ideas. The Taskforce has found there is no single critical factor behind our poor health and safety record. Rather, our workplace health and safety system has a number of significant weaknesses that need to be addressed if we are to achieve the major step-change in performance that we as a nation should demand. Regrettably, there is no silver bullet and a piecemeal approach will not suffice. To the contrary, it is our firm conviction that the Government must adopt the full range of recommendations made in this report if we are to deliver the outcomes that all working New Zealanders deserve. 4

9 PART 1 Our vision is that within 10 years New Zealand will be among the best places in the world for people to go to work each day and come home safe and sound. We believe that this is absolutely possible, but it will require an urgent, broad-based step-change in approach and a seismic shift in attitude. A key challenge in addressing workplace health and safety is that it requires balancing the interests and needs of a number of participants, particularly employers and workers. We are starting with a 20-year-old system that did not find that balance, yet the task has become more rather than less complex over time. The Taskforce has discussed this at length, and looked at how countries with much better workplace health and safety records do it. In our view, we have found a good balance requiring compromise by all parties that will both improve outcomes substantially and respect all parties needs. Make substantial changes to that balance and we will lose the vital support of some participants and significantly weaken the potential benefits. We believe that the Government s target to achieve a 25 percent reduction by 2020 in workplace injuries and fatalities is realistic, but far from what we should aspire to. It would still mean that too many workers are killed and seriously injured. Our vision is that within 10 years New Zealand will be among the best places in the world for people to go to work each day and come home safe and sound. We believe that this is absolutely possible, but it will require an urgent, broad-based step-change in approach and a seismic shift in attitude. It will require strong top-down and bottom-up leadership. It will also require a fundamental change to the prevailing she ll be right culture in New Zealand. She most clearly is not all right. Businesses, workers, unions, industry organisations and the Government all have vital and shared roles to play in achieving this vision. With the Canterbury rebuild underway, and the Pike River mine tragedy fresh in our minds, we all have a vested interest in its success. A state of chronic unease where accidents in our workplace (and beyond) are socially unacceptable should be the default setting in every New Zealand workplace. Nothing less will do. To conclude, I would like to acknowledge and thank sincerely my fellow Taskforce members for their dedication, insightfulness, wisdom and passion for the cause. I would also like to acknowledge the skilful support, unwavering focus and commitment of our Secretariat members. As a Taskforce, we could not have achieved what we have without them. We, and indeed the country, owe them a debt of gratitude. Rob Jager Chair 5

10 INDEPENDENT TASKFORCE ON WORKPLACE HEALTH & SAFETY 2013 Introduction The inquiry 1. The Independent Taskforce on Workplace Health and Safety was established by the Minister of Labour in June 2012 to research and evaluate critically the workplace health and safety system in New Zealand, and to recommend practical strategies for reducing the high rate of workplace fatalities and serious injuries by Structure of the report 2. The Independent Taskforce on Workplace Health and Safety has produced its analysis, findings, recommendations and working papers through a set of three reports. These are: a. an Executive Report summarising the process of the review and its key findings and recommendations b. a main report outlining in detail the scope, process, findings and recommendations of the review c. working papers consultation reports and inputs into the review commissioned by the Taskforce. 3. This main report is made up of the following sections: Chair s foreword Part 1: Introduction a. The inquiry process b. New Zealand s health and safety performance Description of New Zealand s workplace health and safety performance c. Vision The Taskforce s vision for the future and discussion of prerequisites for a high-functioning system d. The health and safety system The Taskforce s framework for understanding New Zealand s health and safety system. Part 2: Levers for change f. Accountability levers Issues and opportunities for the Government to address health and safety practice through legislation and regulation and empowering state agencies with the mandate and functions to ensure compliance g. Motivating levers The role that the Government can play in providing positive incentives to encourage or reward desirable behaviours and negative incentives to discourage or sanction undesirable behaviours h. Knowledge levers Opportunities for providing improved information to influence people s choices about how they behave, and ensuring that people have the knowledge, capacity and capabilities to make good decisions Part 3: Making it happen i. Cost-benefit analysis j. Implementation plan Part 4: Appendices k. Taskforce members l. Terms of reference m. Glossary of terms n. Acronyms 6

11 PART 1 Inquiry process 4. During the 10 months leading up to the production of this report, the Taskforce and its Secretariat gathered and analysed information from a wide range of sources. These included: a. a three-stage consultation process with key stakeholders, including the public, employer and worker representatives, health and safety experts and professionals b. meeting with a number of government and non-government agencies and organisations working in the health and safety system c. requesting and reviewing information from government organisations and international jurisdictions, and published literature d. commissioning research to fill gaps in knowledge. Public consultation 5. Phase I of the three-phase consultation process involved consulting expert reference groups to help identify and frame the issues pertaining to New Zealand s health and safety system prior to the release of a public consultation document. Members of the Taskforce and its Secretariat met with academics, union and worker representatives, employers and health and safety inspectors in four workshop meetings in August Phase II involved the release of the Safer Workplaces consultation document in September 2012 and analysing responses through to November In total, 429 written submissions were received (248 from individuals and 181 from organisations) and more than 500 people attended 28 public meetings held throughout New Zealand (including open forums, hui, fono, workplace visits and business network meetings). 7. Phase III involved synthesising the Taskforce s thinking around the key issues and opportunities, and sharing a high-level discussion document with expert reference groups for feedback. Approximately 100 people attended a two-day February 2013 conference, including academics, union representatives, employers, health and safety professionals and government agencies, including regulators and ACC (the Accident Compensation Corporation). Meetings with regulatory and non-government bodies 8. The Taskforce met with a number of government agencies to discuss their respective roles in the health and safety regulatory and injury-prevention systems. Agencies included ACC, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), Maritime New Zealand (MNZ), the Ministry for the Environment (MfE), the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), the New Zealand Police Commercial Vehicle Inspection Unit, the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) and the Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC). The Taskforce also met with the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions. 9. Members of the Taskforce met with the Workplace Health and Safety Council, the Pike River Families Group Committee, the Small Business Advisory Group, the Business Leaders Health and Safety Forum, the Institute of Directors (IoD), Standards New Zealand, the Chief Coroner, the Chief District Court Judge and the executive board Chair of the United Kingdom Health and Safety Executive. 10. The Taskforce Chair, during a visit to the UK, met with the UK Health and Safety Executive, the Confederation of British Industry and the Trades Union Congress (UK). We also met with Professor Ragnar Lofstedt, Director of the King s Centre for Risk Management; Lawrence Waterman, Olympic Delivery Authority Head of Health and Safety; and Professor David Walters, Professor of Work Environment and Director Cardiff Work Environment Research Centre, Cardiff University. 7

12 INDEPENDENT TASKFORCE ON WORKPLACE HEALTH & SAFETY Members of the Taskforce also met with a number of other health and safety professionals and experts during the consultation period. Requesting and reviewing information 12. In July 2012 the Taskforce was provided with a series of background papers to the strategic review by MBIE. From July 2012 to February 2013, additional information requests were made to key agencies, and information and published data from international jurisdictions were gathered to inform the ongoing analysis across key topics. Commissioning research 13. To support its decision-making and to fill gaps in knowledge, the Taskforce commissioned three pieces of research in December a. Health and safety culture change. This research identified and reviewed examples of successful national culture change initiatives, including the use of safety belts, anti-family violence and energy efficiency. The aim of the research project was to identify common themes and success factors in these programmes to help the Taskforce to formulate recommendations for how culture change initiatives might contribute to improving workplace health and safety outcomes. b. International injury and fatality rate comparisons. This research reviewed international injury and fatality rates, and compared New Zealand s injury and fatality rates with those of other established market economies, adjusting for industry composition and noting limitations in interpreting the findings. c. Assessing workplace capacity and capability for effective health and safety systems. This project was informed by two sets of field work. Case studies were used to explore the operationalisation of health and safety systems in 11 firms varying in size, nature of industry and organisational form. In the case studies, particular attention was given to hazard identification and the extent and quality of worker participation in managing health and safety issues. Secondly, phone interviews were carried out with about 30 members of IoD to explore health and safety leadership in larger organisations, including the strategic direction and extent of prioritisation being set by boards of directors for their organisations. Unreliable data on workplace fatalities 14. When the Independent Taskforce on Workplace Health and Safety was established in June 2012, the best available data on New Zealand s workplace injury, health and fatality rates were the Serious Injury Outcome Indicators (SIOIs) published by Statistics New Zealand 1. They showed that: a. there were on average 102 fatal workrelated deaths between 2008 and 2010 b. New Zealand has a workplace fatality rate of around four deaths per 100,000 workers, with a rate of 4.1 fatalities per 100,000 workers in On the basis of international comparisons using New Zealand s historical SIOIs and data from other jurisdictions provided to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), New Zealand was identified as having a high rate of deaths compared with many OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries. The data indicated that we perform particularly poorly compared with Western countries like Australia and the UK, which have similar market economies and Robens-based regulatory systems Statistics New Zealand (2011). Serious injury outcome indicators: , Table The Robens regulatory framework, discussed later in this report, replaces prescriptive requirements with performance-based or outcome-focused standards. The model requires duty holders (those involved in the undertaking of work and providing the means for work to be undertaken) to achieve safe outcomes by the means that can be adopted, and are most appropriately adopted, in the circumstances of the particular business or work activities.

13 PART In reviewing the fatality figures we were struck by how little knowledge there was of how the headline numbers were derived and how unreliable they were. As a result, in our Safer Workplaces consultation document we reported that there is no comprehensive or reliable data set for monitoring workplace fatal injury rates in New Zealand. 17. In November 2012, Statistics New Zealand issued an official caution: We have discovered some quality concerns with the work-related indicators and are working to fix them. By taking extra time to evaluate the information available, we will be able to provide a more accurate summary of the outcomes for serious work-related injury in New Zealand. We are working with other agencies that hold relevant data to improve these indicators We recommend that no further use is made of the data on work-related injury in earlier publications until our review is complete Given the uncertainty, the Taskforce decided to commission its own research to compare more robustly outcomes across jurisdictions and to assess New Zealand s relative performance. While this report reinforced to us that New Zealand s comparative performance with OECD countries was not good, in light of the ongoing problems with New Zealand s official injury statistics we have decided not to include the findings from the commissioned study, or any international comparisons, in this report. The University of Otago report is available, however, as a working paper We understand that Statistics New Zealand will soon release modified work-related fatal and non-fatal SIOIs. The Taskforce is left with a profound unease about the quality of data in New Zealand and the fact that this had previously not been detected by the agencies responsible for the data. We are deeply concerned that we do not have a clear, reliable picture of New Zealand s performance. Accordingly, as discussed in the body to this report, the Taskforce believes that data improvements, vital to advancing our understanding and targeting of issues and to monitoring and evaluating outcomes accurately, need to be addressed as a priority. 20. Irrespective of these data issues, the Taskforce is strongly of the view that all injuries and deaths in New Zealand workplaces are preventable, and any death in a workplace is unacceptable. Regardless of the emergent official toll, what is certain is that the number of people dying in New Zealand workplaces each year is a shameful tragedy Lilley, R, Samaranayaka, A and Weis, P (2013). International Comparison of Published Occupational Fatal Injury Rates: How does New Zealand compare internationally?. Commissioned report for the Independent Taskforce on Workplace Health and Safety. Injury Prevention Unit, University of Otago. Comparative countries include the UK, Australia, Norway, Sweden, France, Finland, Spain and Canada. 9

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15 PART 1 New Zealand health and safety performance A week in the life of New Zealand 21. In an average week in New Zealand, people are badly injured or die at work. We chose the first week of December 2012 a purely random choice and looked at the news stories of work-related accidents and deaths for that week. 22. On Saturday, 1 December, 21-year-old Opotiki farmer and father of one, Eion Murphy Gebert, was killed when the farm bike he was riding collided head-on with a car on State Highway 2 near Opotiki. It was 5am, and Mr Gebert was on his way to do the morning milking. 23. Things were quiet for a few days until Wednesday, 5 December. Mid-morning on State Highway 2, just north of Wairoa, a truck with 36 bulls on board crashed and rolled. The driver and a passenger were trapped and had to be freed by emergency rescue services. The passenger was moderately injured and six bulls had to be put down. In the early afternoon, a 70-year-old Tauranga man was injured after the bulldozer he was driving at a quarry rolled down a bank. The man was taken to hospital by ambulance with a head injury and multiple lacerations. 24. Also that day, a 63-year-old man was airlifted to hospital from a farm near Castlepoint in the Wairarapa. The man had struck his head on a digger bucket while building a woolshed. He sustained moderate head injuries. 25. Then Thursday, 6 December hit. There were two incidents down south. Waimate farm worker Richard Gordon Fairweather, 47, died after the tractor he was driving to spread urea on hilly farmland overturned. While the tractor had a roll cage, Mr Fairweather was thrown from the vehicle. 26. Emergency services were called to a gas leak at a fruit-packing cool store in Alexandra after contractors cut a gas pipe on a refrigeration unit that they believed had been isolated. People were evacuated and others told to stay indoors. Fortunately, things were soon brought under control. 27. In Auckland, a tornado struck in the afternoon. It swept through Hobsonville and Whenuapai, wreaking havoc. Twohundred-plus houses were severely damaged and hundreds of residents left terrified. Three construction workers building a new secondary school were killed. Two died when the tornado tipped over 15-metre concrete tilt-slab walls, crushing them beneath. Four subcontractors also suffered injuries. The men who died were Keith Robert James Langford, 60, who had become a greatgrandfather the day before and was close to retirement, Brendon Johnson, 22, and Tom Stowers, 42, a father of four. 28. On the last day of the first week of December 2012, a 59-year-old man was airlifted to hospital after the quad bike he was riding rolled on a farm inland from Tolaga Bay. He suffered chest injuries and lacerations. 29. One week in the working life of New Zealand as reported in the news: five deaths, eight treated in hospital for injuries, six valuable livestock euthanised, and a potential gas explosion averted. please note: A week in the life of New Zealand is based on public information gained from news articles published in the media. 11

16 INDEPENDENT TASKFORCE ON WORKPLACE HEALTH & SAFETY These figures are repeated more or less every week of the year, year after year. 31. We read the headlines but often we don t give them a second thought. Bulldozer driver injured. Tree falls on forestry worker. Driver of milk tanker found dead. They re often no more than news briefs, a few paragraphs long. Occasionally they re headline news but mostly they re not. 32. For the people involved, and their families, colleagues, neighbours and friends, the ripple effects are wide and deep. Fatherless children. Grief-stricken parents. Wives and fiancées left bereft. The permanently injured left to cope with chronic pain, wheelchairs or prosthetics, financial stress, and the loss of much or all of their independence and former ways of life. 33. As a family member of one of the men killed at work that week put it, when your day starts with laughter and ends up in tears, it s as tough as it gets. 34. While sudden and serious injury incidents, often involving police, emergency rescue and ambulance services, are reported in our media, what goes unreported are the 500 to 800 people who die each year as a result of chronic diseases caused by workplace exposures. These are almost invisible in New Zealand s public discourse. Work-related injuries are common 35. While we acknowledge that there are problems with the data, the fact is that a lot of bad things happen to people at work in New Zealand. Each year, around 1 in 10 workers is harmed, with about 200,000 claims being made by people to ACC for costs associated with work-related injuries and illnesses 5. Of these, about 90 percent are medical fee expense claims, often involving only one or two visits to a health professional 6. The remainder are more substantive entitlement claims, reflecting a more serious degree of harm, for which compensation and support beyond medical fees are required. These include payments for rehabilitation, weekly compensation and accidental death benefits. Approximately 26,000 workplace-related entitlement claims were approved by ACC for people being harmed at work in Workplace injuries and diseases caused by work-related exposures inflict an enormous emotional toll on individuals and their families. There are also significant economic and social costs to our nation. In 2010 these were estimated to be about $3.5 billion a year 8 around two percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in today s terms 9. This is the figure that MBIE accepts is the most reliable. However, costs have been estimated to be as high as $15 billion a year 10 and $21 billion a year 11, depending on how the costs are measured and the extent to which indirect costs are included. Some high-risk industries account for the majority of injuries 37. Several high-risk industries account for the bulk of serious injuries and fatalities. These are manufacturing, construction, agriculture, forestry and fishing. Together, these industries account for half (53 percent) of all entitlement claims for workrelated injury and occupational illness. Further, these industries have the highest entitlement claim rates, ranging from 24 (manufacturing and construction) to 32 (agriculture, forestry and fishing) per 1,000 full-time-equivalent employees in While the provisional number of workplace claims for injuries and occupational illnesses that occurred in 2011 has fallen below 200,000 for the first time in 10 years, the average number of claims for work-related injuries to ACC in was 226,000, with 212,000 in 2010 (the most recent year with finalised data available). 6. Statistics New Zealand (2012). Injury Statistics Work-related claims: Provisional data. 7. Ibid. 8. MBIE Labour (2012). The State of Workplace Health and Safety in New Zealand. 9. Calculation involves adjusting the 2010 cost estimate using the Reserve Bank s consumer price index calculator to control for inflation. GDP for the year ended September 2012 was $208 billion. Exact proportion is 1.8% of GDP. 10. New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (2008). Volume 1: Risk Landscape Workplace Health and Safety. Report to the Department of Labour. 11. Access Economics. (2006). The Economic and Social Costs of Occupational Disease and Injury in New Zealand. National Occupational Health and Safety Advisory Committee Technical Report 4. Wellington. 12. Source: Based on ACC claims data to March Entitlement payments exclude medical fee-only claims and include death, weekly compensation, lump sum, and rehabilitation payments.

17 PART 1 Figure 1: ACC work-related entitlement claims: Proportions by industry 2010 Other Manufacturing 22% Retail trade 5% Agriculture, forestry and fishing 16% Health care and social assistance 7% Construction 16% Transport, postal and warehousing 8% Some high-risk population groups are more likely to be harmed at work 38. Some groups of workers are also particularly vulnerable to injury and harm at work. Work-related injury claims 13, occupational disease data and fatality figures show that: a. men are more likely to be injured or killed at work than women b. older workers are more vulnerable than other age groups c. Māori workers, Pacific workers and workers of other ethnicities 14 are more likely to be seriously injured at work d. self-employed workers are more likely to be injured at work than employees e. many occupational diseases are known to affect particular populations disproportionately, such as men and older workers f. employees new to positions or engaged in temporary, casual or seasonal work may be particularly at risk. 39. Anecdotal evidence suggests that youth, and workers with low literacy and numeracy skills, are also at greater risk of injury. 40. At the same time, there is a lethal nexus between high-risk population groups and high-risk industries. 41. The differences in outcomes observed across the vulnerable demographic groups reflect to a large extent their higher rates of employment in industries and occupations that carry higher risks of injury. For example, Māori workers are overrepresented in high-risk industries such as forestry and construction. So too are male workers. 42. Other factors are likely to play a role too, including language barriers, lack of experience and natural aging processes. 13. Statistics New Zealand (2010). Injury Statistics Work Related Claims: 2010: Hot Off The Press. health/injuries/injurystatistics_hotp10.aspx. 14. The other category includes Middle Eastern, Latin American, African and other ethnic groups. 13

18 INDEPENDENT TASKFORCE ON WORKPLACE HEALTH & SAFETY 2013 Reflections from a wheelchair In 2007, Auckland father-of-six Wally Noble became a paraplegic in a workplace accident. Whangarei born and bred, Wally left school at age 16 with no qualifications, and started work as a scaffolding labourer at the Marsden Point oil refinery. For the next 23 years Wally literally climbed the ladder of the construction industry. By 2004 he had his own scaffold contracting business. In March 2007 he was called to a job on an Auckland high-rise. It involved building a hanging scaffold from the rooftop down three sides of the building. Wally arrived on site with three of his men the following Monday at 7.30am. As always on major construction sites, we had to go through an induction and, on this site, it was with the site supervisor. I d been to hundreds of inductions and my attitude was, I ve seen it and heard it all before. I didn t give it my full attention. There was a lot going on in the background too, a lot of distraction. There were skill saws and nail guns going off, and other trades walking by. On reflection, the centre of a floor surrounded by activity was not the best place to perform a safety induction. The site supervisor showed a casual approach too. He would have performed this role many times without a hitch. At one point his mobile phone went off and he answered it. That effectively ended the induction. I gestured at him, That s it? and he waved back, Yes. We have a responsibility to change the safety culture in the workplace. We need to inspire everyone at work to have the courage to speak up when things don t seem right. wally noble Unknown to me then, part of the induction was to inform us of a hole in the floor of the roof. Wally and his team were then escorted to the roof by the scaffolding supervisor. It was quite messy. Black polythene had been laid over the entire floor, and scaffolding and building materials were scattered on top. As Wally and his men followed the scaffolding supervisor to a corner of the rooftop, Wally veered away to look over the side. 14

19 PART 1 The next thing he remembers is falling. Inadvertently, he had stepped through the thin polythene into a gap between the edge of the plywood and the large hole it was meant to cover, which had not been mentioned at the induction and was not barricaded. He fell 6.5 metres to the penthouse floor below and plywood came down on top of him. In the fall, Wally broke his spinal cord at the lower chest level (paraplegia), punctured both lungs and had minor head injuries. He spent three weeks in Auckland Hospital, followed by nearly two months in Middlemore Hospital. From there he was transferred to the Otara Spinal Unit, where he underwent more intensive rehabilitation. The care he received was awesome and he has nothing but praise for ACC. Nevertheless, the adjustment to his new circumstances was massive. Psychologically, it was a huge shock; you can t process it at first. The love and support of his family his wife and six children, his parents and four brothers friends and workmates kept him going. However, soon after returning home he developed a pressure sore on his backside. It took three months to heal and required him to stay lying in bed for the duration. That was the start of an emotional journey that brought huge upheaval. I felt every emotion you can go through depression, anxiety, hopelessness, anger, grief. I was angry at God, and at everything and everyone in between including the construction company. Unfortunately I took my frustrations out on the very people who supported and loved me, my family and whānau. I felt sorry for myself and angry at the world for at least a year and a half. At that point, Wally s wife walked out and Wally hit rock bottom. That was the catalyst for change for me. Her leaving felt worse than the accident. I still had my kids with me and I had to make some changes. First, I had to change my attitude and then I had to get myself healthy and as independent as possible. About that time he received a call from the Otara Spinal Unit. Could he share some positive experiences with a new paraplegic patient, a Māori man, who was severely depressed? Before I knew it I was saying, Sure thing!. I put down the phone and went, S t, what have I just agreed to? I am an emotional mess and they want my positive outlook on life after spinal cord injury?. However, he went. We clicked, this Māori guy and me, and we had a good yarn. I talked about the great services I d had from ACC and the hospital staff. I left there feeling really satisfied. I realised that by helping somebody else I was actually helping myself also. That night he searched the internet for courses he might pursue. A social work degree course was starting in two weeks time at Manukau Institute of Technology, and despite his lack of qualifications he had plenty of relevant life experience, which was an alternative way in. Three years later, in 2012, he graduated with a university degree and a new outlook on life. Being a student wasn t easy. Just getting to lectures was a struggle; what takes an ablebodied person a half hour took me three hours. But I think I had this huge desire to improve myself. My attitude towards life had finally taken a turn for the better. I met some incredibly inspirational tutors and students, and I started to learn about the world in a different way. Wally began to reflect on his accident, and wondered if he might have prevented it if his attitude to safety had been different. continued 15

20 INDEPENDENT TASKFORCE ON WORKPLACE HEALTH & SAFETY 2013 Chronic occupational health issues present greater harm I realised that, absolutely, I could have changed the outcome. I could have challenged the site supervisor on a number of things, such as the location of the induction and him taking the call on his mobile. If I had been more proactive my chances of falling that day would have been greatly reduced. What troubles him most is that his old attitude to safety is still prevalent today, and it s the one being passed on to the next generation. We have a responsibility to change the safety culture in the workplace. We need to inspire everyone at work to have the courage to speak up when things don t seem right. In March 2013 Wally began his first real job since the accident. He is a disability service facilitator with the Taikura Trust. He also presents to workplace groups, using his accident as a teaching tool to discuss how things could have been handled better. We have a responsibility to change the safety culture in the workplace. We need to inspire everyone at work to have the courage to speak up when things don t seem right. I m a better person now. In a way, I m grateful for my experiences. I am passionate about health and safety, and giving back in this way feels a lot better now that I understand the science behind adopting a good safety culture, he explains. The fact that his three eldest sons now work as scaffolders also motivates him. 43. There is a tragic paradox here too. While New Zealand s acute harm and workplace safety statistics are woeful and rightly attract considerable attention, the much more damaging occupational health impacts of the workplace go almost completely under the radar. 44. Occupational illnesses have significantly worse human and financial impacts than acute-harm incidents. This was confirmed in a recent study by University of Otago researchers, which showed that New Zealanders who fall ill experience considerably worse financial and work outcomes than those with comparable injuries Occupational health impacts arise from a broad range of poorly managed hazards in the workplace. These result in gradual impairment or chronic harm conditions such as cancers and musculoskeletal disorders, and acute harms related to hazardous substance exposures such as poisoning from solvents and pesticides. 46. Currently, New Zealand does not collect reliable data on occupational illnesses and diseases. In part, this is due to the difficulties in measurement and attribution arising from long latency periods and conditions that can have multiple causes. 47. In the absence of reliable data, the National Occupational Health and Safety Advisory Committee (NOHSAC) in 2004 estimated that each year there are 17,000-20,000 new cases of occupational disease in New Zealand In 2010 ACC approved 23,300 occupationalillness-related claims 17. It is recognised that ACC has good coverage of some illnesses such as musculoskeletal conditions; however, others such as respiratory diseases and occupational cancers have low capture rates McAllister, S, Derrett, S, Audas, R, Herbison, P, and Paul, C. (2013). Do different types of financial support after illness or injury affect socio-economic outcomes? A natural experiment in New Zealand. Social Science & Medicine, Vol. 85, pp Pearce, N, Dryson, E, Feyer, A-M, Gander,P, McCracken, S and Wagstaffe, M (2004). The Burden of Occupational Disease and Injury in New Zealand: Report to the Associate Minister of Labour. NOHSAC: Wellington. 17. Statistics New Zealand (2010).

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